Value Can Grow on Trees

By Mateo Miramontes, Business Value Consultant, Mainstay

The success of a solution is 100% based on the value it brings to the consumer. In today’s subscription economy it is even more important for solutions to drive immediate value because customers can easily change solutions without huge switching costs or time requirements.

With such a focus on value, how can your company organize and most effectively communicate the value of your solutions? The simple answer is a value tree. A well-built value tree framework has a multitude of benefits, including:

Simplicity: One of the most common challenges organizations face is that existing marketing assets, meant to communicate value across multiple business functions, are often disjointed or incomplete. A value tree provides a structured and holistic representation of all functional areas and their associated value drivers for a solution. This approach allows for everyone to understand the solution value message being delivered and provides a simple reference tool for communications going forward.

Organization: The simplicity of a value tree allows for value drivers to be grouped by business area. This structure is key when discovering the total value of a solution. By grouping the value drivers into key business areas, the value tree can be quickly dissected to clearly show and communicate the value of the solution.

Measurable: With the key value drives clearly defined, stakeholders can now focus on measuring the benefits that a solution delivers. This provides a template for marketers to then research their customers to collect benchmarks and results.  The value tree can then be modified to be unique to customer segments (e.g., industries, geographies, size of an organization)

Leverage: A simple and well-organized value tree also allows marketers to develop assets to prove a solution’s impact. Creating the right asset for the target audience and channel (e.g., Solution whitepapers, customer case studies, videographics, infographics, and social media posts) stakeholders can build awareness of the impact that a solution has delivered.

The true benefit of a value tree framework is its simple illustration of the value of a solution. An effective value tree is a living instrument that is constantly updated to reflect new value drivers and proof points of customer impact.  As data is collected to fill the value tree, marketers can reuse the information to cut and slice a portfolio of marketing assets that drive future sales.

Learn More

Mainstay is a leader in developing effective value trees and using them to communicate and validate IT solutions. Contact us at contact@mainstaycompany.com to have a discussion about our process and the benefits a value tree can have on your organization.